Laqa&Co TUXEDO and Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit - swatch and review

Laqa&Co Tuxedo

I've got some nail art staples to share today - black polishes and a nail art tool kit including brushes, striping tape and  dotting tools! 

Let's start at the beginning with the polishes. This is a polish duo from Laqa&Co - 'Tuxedo' is a glossy and matte pair. They come in the double ended bottle like the Laqa&Co Gold Fleck Manicure range - I have to say I'm not keen on the bottle format, it makes the brush harder to control because of the weight of the bottle in your hand and it leaves the tiny bottle you are painting from rather unstable. The polishes inside the bottles are great though!

Here are the black polishes on their own to start with - this is one coat of each , no topcoat. I'm impressed with both of them; the matte is a bit streaky but I think that is more down to me not being able to hold the brush steady because the 'handle' is a bottle of polish and is too long and heavy!

My first trial was to use the black polishes over my existing mani (Laqa&Co Bobby Dazzler) to create some nail art skittles using the Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit. The kit includes a flat wide brush (which I've been using as a clean-up brush for the edges of my nails; this is a perfect brush for this), a fine brush for detailing, a striping brush, a fan brush, two double-ended dotting tools (small and large) and a roll of striping tape. Just about everything you need to get started! I used the small dotting tool and the fine brush for my index finger, the striping brush for my middle finger and the fan brush for my ring finger; for all these fingers I used the glossy black from the Tuxedo duo. For my little finger I created a 'ladybird' nail - first I used the striping tape to make a neat edge for the french tip, then applied the matte black. Then I added the matte black dots with the biggest dotting tool.

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Bobby Dazzler

My next test was a Tuxedo mani - but I liked the ladybird nail too much to remove it so it stays as my accent nail! I used the striping tape again to create the neat edges on the black nails.

And then I added black dots to match the ladybird nail on my other nails - glossy dots on the matte nail, matte dots on the glossy nails. I love how this worked out!

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Bobby Dazzler

I wanted to wear this for a few days to see how long the matte stayed matte, so when I got bored with the ladybird nail I changed the accent for this green holo (Enchanted March 2014).

Nail Art with Laqa&Co Tuxedo and Enchanted March 2014

I'm pleased to report that the matte stayed matte until I removed the mani after three days. Sometimes matte polishes start out looking fabulous but go shiny almost overnight - this one did stand the test of time. And finally, here is a rare shot of my right hand - I reversed the pattern so I get more of that green holo goodness here. You can see the matte black is streaky here... definitely harder to apply and get a good finish with my left hand using that bottle!

My verdict on the Laqa&Co Tuxedo duo is that the polishes themselves are great, but I'm not keen on the packaging. I'd be all over these if they were sold in separate, full size bottles though. The Models Own Nail Art Toolkit is great, it contains a good range of brushes and dotting tools to cover most needs, the brushes are good quality and easy to handle. They seem to withstand cleaning in acetone pretty well. The striping tape is good and sticky (some versions are not) and a good addition to the kit - I like to use it for making neat edges as well as the more obvious 'stripey' manis!

Laqa&Co Tuxedo and the Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit were sent for review. Laqa&Co Tuxedo is available from  Retail Beauty in the UK. The duo is £14.95, which I think is quite pricey for such small bottles. The Models Own Nail Art Tool Kit is available from Models Own for a very reasonable £8. I purchased Enchanted March 2014 from a friend (the Enchanted monthly polishes are an unseen pre-order - my friend doesn't like green!).

Tape design nail art with Barry M Countess

Barry M Countess

If you're in the UK and you haven't bought Barry M Countess yet............ you ought to! This is my favourite textured glitter polish to date! I've already shown it shiny with topcoat and a glitter topper (Femme Fatale Hydraxia) but I wanted to use it in a nail art design to showcase it's texture, rather than just wearing it as a straightforward mani.

I applied a vampy base (Nicole by OPI Smile For The Glam-era, although I probably have half a dozen *similar* colours that would work equally well), topped it off with Seche Vite to get maximum shine then applied striping tape in a random pattern. I added a single, thickish coat of Countess and removed the tape before Countess dried. I worked on just one nail at a time here - I found I got the best edges on the textured polish by removing the tape as quickly as possible. The effect is subtle, but definitely noticeable - I got several real-life complements when I wore this! However, I  might like to repeat this mani with either a very light base, perhaps a creamy nude or off-white, or a bright colour for a variation on the theme.

Barry M Countess

Here's a macro in full sun - the texture of Countess looks like sugar crystals <3

Barry M Countess

I purchased Barry M Countess from my local Boots.

Femme Fatale Lime Thief - swatch and review

Femme Fatale Lime Thief

What a gorgeous combination of colours and such an evocative name - the name reminds me of William Morris' Strawberry Thief, a textile design inspired by blackbirds stealing fruit from the artist's garden.

Femme Fatale Lime Thief is a bright lime green jelly polish with hexagonal glitter in various sizes in red, lime green and emerald green. I've seen it looking great alone as a jelly (check out Ida's lovely swatches to see this) but I wanted a more vibrant effect so I layered it over GOSH Early Green, a bright leafy lime that's maybe just a tad more yellow than the base of Lime Thief (have a look at this post for my pictures of Early Green on its own and with a black glitter).

This is two coats of Femme Fatale Lime Thief over one coat of GOSH Early Green. I used a coat of Gelous and a coat of Seche Vite quick drying topcoat to smooth the glitters out. Application of Lime Thief is flawless, and I was working from a mini bottle. The glitter comes out of the bottle easily without fishing, and spreads across the nail without clumping. The combination of colours is perfect - green and red are complementaries after all!

Femme Fatale Lime Thief

And a couple of macros to finish with.........., and by the way, I cut my nails square; they're perhaps a bit shorter than I'd really like right  now, but I wasn't getting on with those rounded corners from my last couple of posts at all - I know I like square or pointy, and nothing in between, so I must have been having a bit of a funny moment when I rounded my corners. Never mind, I like experimenting, and they're only nails, they grow back quick!

Femme Fatale Lime Thief

Then, just for fun, the day before I took this off, I added a bit of simple geometric nail art with striping tape and black polish. I used American Apparel Hassid here - it's a very dense black and I only needed one coat. I'm always amazed how much something like this can totally transform a mani - and it's a great trick for extending the life of a mani another day or two if you're bored with it or its become a bit worn looking!

Femme Fatale Lime Thief was sent as a sample for review. You can buy this shade directly from Femme Fatale (shipping worldwide, or check their list of international suppliers for other shipping options) at their website.  I purchased GOSH Early Green at my local Superdrug earlier this year. American Apparel Hassid was a gift from a friend a while ago.

Tape design with Barry M Lychee

Tape design with Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee

I've been wanting to try a tape design for a while, and finally I got around to buying some nail striping tape. I'd been a bit unsure about which sort to get, but when Sammy at The Nailasuarus opened her nail art supplies shop, I thought getting what she uses would be a great start, since this girl really knows her nail art.

I decided to start out with something very simple; just parallel lines becoming gradually closer together. Once finished, it does look a bit like it could be based on the fibonacci number series, but this was not intentional; I just placed the strips of tape in an attractive (to me) layout by eye. Interesting that my random arrangement came out looking close to a fibonacci sequence - I have been taught this in some detail in the context of design of stripes for weaving but I was NOT thinking about this at all when I did this mani!

Since this was my first experiment with tape, I worked over an existing mani which I was about to remove - this glittery watermarble which has plenty of variation in colour and texture.

I placed the strips of tape on the nails of one hand at a time, making sure to press the ends of the tape down well at the sides of my nails so the polish didn't get underneath at the edges. Then I applied a thickish coat of Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee to cover the tape and the polish underneath. I removed the tape whilst the polish was still wet on each nail, waited a moment or two for the polish to become touch dry then moved on to the next nail. When I had the design done on the whole of my right hand, I waited a bit longer before applying Seche Vite topcoat to be sure the topcoat would not smudge the design. Then I started painting my left hand. I always paint my right hand first - partly because I think it's hard enough painting my right hand with my left in any case, so why make it harder by having wet nails on my left hand whilst I'm painting - and partly so I can use my right hand to *practice* on, since I always photograph my left hand!

Barry M Lychee is probably my most used polish this year - apart from the fact that I really love the colour to wear on its own, it seems to be perfect for nail art; it is really opaque and densely pigmented so it covers just about any base with ease.  I've used this colour with great success for dots and water marbling recently - I might try it out for stamping next!

The overall result is a bit 'segmented' - it reminds me of annelid worms (or maybe even the michelin man) but I rather like that. In fact I think I might try some combination with textured or matt polishes in the future to emphasise this effect!

There is a bit of shrinkage from the Seche Vite; the existing mani was already quite thick and I think the combination of a one thick coat of polish over dry polish and topped by SV was a little risky. In real life the tips of my nails aren't noticeable at all, but I can't hide the shrinkage in the photographs.

And a couple more macro shots to finish with:

Tape design with Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee

I purchased my Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Lychee from my local Boots earlier this year. I got my striping tape from The Nailasaurus Emporium.

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